Why Mathematics

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Why Mathematics?

• Professor Peter Grindrod CBE
• President Designate of the
• Institute of Mathematics and its Applications

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• Why employ mathematicians?
• Ever?
• What should children and parents consider when
  they qualify employment opportunities?
• Who is choosing who?
• How do their skills and vision match up?

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Mathematical Knowledge

• Localised and in-depth
• Broad but shallow
• Need to integrate/evaluate/manipulate
• Networking and synergies
• How is success rewarded?
• In research/academic path
• Large companies
• Small companies

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Larger companies

• Recruitment and Induction activities
• Opportunities to try different things
• Ladder / performance
• Security (!)
• R and D versus management activities
• Culture (structured, devolved, empowered)
• Success F(effectiveness, bandwidth)

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Smaller companies (SMEs)

• In at the deep end / coal face
• Opportunities to try different things
• Performance war stories?
• Security (Risk? and Return?)
• Explosive R and D - burning cash
• Culture (small, involved, empowered)
• Success F(mktg, USP, courage)

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Extra money earned by a graduate over lifetime
compared with 2 A levels
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Which Sectors? Focus and Research

• Power/Energy
• Aerospace and defence
• Materials
• Machinery
• Transport
• Chemicals
• Health Care
• Biotechnology, drug discovery and Pharmaceuticals

• Finance
• Environment
• Construction
• Computing and communications
• Electronics
• Consumer Goods
• Retail
• Media marketing
• Management

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Science, Technology and Business What General
Issues should we consider?

• The movement to the knowledge economy where
  will/can the UK win?
• Between the wave of innovation and the wave of
  commoditization
• Increased communications competition
• distributed (grid) B2B applications, B2C,
  customer management (e.g. banks, telco, retail,
  online,...)
• Globalization skills?
• Skills shortages - jeopardy and investment

• Economic drivers e.g. Bioinformatics,
  Environment, Energy.
• Risky / Adventurous innovation Venture capital,
  Spin-outs, SMEs
• Timescales to grow, to sunset
• Pace of change - emerging initiatives
  (nanotech,QIP, informatics, basic tech,..)
• Public perception and mistrust of science in
  business
• Ethics

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What benefits does a Mathematical Training
provide?

• Framework for thinking and articulating problems
  remove confusion like therapy!
• Problem solvers
• Alternative competing perspectives, approaches,
  methods Choices/Options
• Synergies
• Mathematicians are finishers!
• No fear! Righteousness!
• Adaptive to environments/platforms
• Soft skills!

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Who ever says this?

• How do we all talk about these benefits?
• How do student present themselves to employers?
  In specific or generic terms?
• Recruitment Companies say candidates should have
• solid subjects (like Maths! But maths plus
  skills)
• from solid institutes therefore no
  miss-selling!
• AND the students must have a good attitude and
  ambition/vision

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Employers visit schools (shock!)

• Two weeks ago I visited
• Top GCSE sets from 6 comprehensive schools in
  West Oxon 120 kids
• Provocative ideas
• Presentations from different industries
  examples of how single maths idea is valuable
  within many different applications
• The currency is ideas

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Best Question

• When you were 16 years old and thought about
  whether to pursue your mathematics
  what were you most concerned about?
• That I didnt know many people who had been to
  university, I didnt
  know any mathematicians, and I
  didnt want to end up in a room full of
  weirdoes!!!
• Taking the plunge is a risk! We have to de-risk
  it

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CASE STUDIES All of us why are we
mathematicians?

• Post hoc rationalisation I became a
  mathematician because(BE HONEST!)
• We were all able we had potential
• Its satisfying and addictive
• Its exciting
• Its exclusive mathematical worlds within our
  minds
• Constrained only by imagination
• To map, discover, describe
• Its a challenge!
• (Ironically the truths discovered can be
  relevant in the real world!!!)

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De-risking the decision

• Reassurance message lots of careers, lots of
  employers who like maths for all of the right
  reasons
• Should maths courses provide proper options to
  make students obviously employable? Students
  should know this will happen
• Business, start-ups, entrepreneurship
• Presenting (inc maths to non-mathematicians)
• Understanding new technologies and drivers
• Having positioning and a plan

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Why Mathematics?

• MY HEAD SAYS Economic () benefits!
• A wide choice of career
• Careers as a sequence of (5-10yr) career-lets?
• UK needs us! The Government wants us!
• Ubiquitous concepts
• Innovation and Creativity
• Intellectual challenge Satisfaction
• How far can you go? Adventure, risk, intellect!
• MY HEART SAYS Because its there we are
  explorers!
• We dare to jump into the abyss
• To live and work in mathematical worlds

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Why Mathematics?

• Professor Peter Grindrod CBE
• President Designate of the
• Institute of Mathematics and its Applications